31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Expensive but worth it?, May 24, 2008
The negative reviews I have seen on this sleeping pad all point to its expense.
Everyone seems to agree that this is perhaps the most comfortable option out there for a car camping sleeping pad. There are no alternatives out there that I have found that allow you to create a true queen sized but very portable and comfortable and insulated bed. Zero.
We have been using these for 3 years now and they certainly beat the overly-bouncy Aerobed air mattress that we were using.
You can get much the same comfort by simply buying a tri-fold 4" mattress, however they are not much cheaper and a queen sized one is enormous.
The fleece topping on the Thermarest Dreamtime is very nice to the touch. The air-mattress allows me to get it a touch firmer than an all foam mattress.
It is basically a good quality self-inflating air mattress (foam inside a two valve air mattress) with a normal foam pad over it inside a cover which is a very nice fleece on top and polyurethane underneath (and thus less likely to get dirty or absorb moisture from the tent floor).
It is one of the warmest pads you can get with a total R value of 9. (It can get very, very cold at night with a regular air mattress sucking away all your body heat)
Some have said that it is expensive because it is "memory foam". It is memory foam in that it tries hard to get back to its original shape in order to self-inflate, however it is not the memory foam of modern marketing where your body heat causes the temperature sensitive foam to compress in just the right places so you have a more comfortable night sleep with fewer pressure points. You do not want this temperature sensitive memory foam in this application as it would double its weight and it would not unfurl very well in the cold.
In short, the individual components may not cost ThermARest anywhere near what they sell it for, but they were the ones to do the research to implement a well thought out design (just the right thickness of foam and air mattress) and market it and manufacture it well enough that you can easily buy it most anywhere without worrying about the quality. Tho based on reviews here, perhaps the quality has gone down a bit this past year or two?
A VERY big selling point are the two short straps that keep two (or more) pads tightly together in same dimensions as a queen sized bed as well as straps to hold it together rolled. Do not underestimate how nice it is to have these straps. This is the only mattress I have found to include these side to side straps. The straps sold to join together any air mattress are just a pain in the rear in comparison (but I do use them on our other air mattresses).
For this level of portable sleeping comfort, you do not have many options unless you decide to spend the time to build your own, or bring along a bulkier mattress (and even those can be just as expensive if they are well made).
So far, I have found that the perfect setup is this mattress NOT fully inflated (less firm) on top of a Therm-a-Rest BaseCamp inflated to very firm.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For camping with a bad back..., January 11, 2007
My wife and I have a problem. We both like camping, but we both have back problems. This product allows us to get a decent night's sleep in a tent, which means we can camp more. Yeah, it's one more thing to have to pack, but it rolls up nice and fits just fine in the back of our jeep with our tent and sleeping bags.
I wouldn't get this product if you are a minimalist, it's pretty bulky and it's too big to hike with. However, if you go camping like we do, then why settle for the smaller and slimmer Therm-a-Rest models?
If you have a bad back and like to go camping, it is the only way to go outside of getting an inflatable mattress (too bulky, needs electricity) or just buying an RV (which isn't camping at all).
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like floating on a cloud., March 17, 2007
I use the mattress on a Camp Time roll-a-cot which is the best cot around because it doesn't have end bars. This mattress makes the whole setup like floating on a cloud. I think I'll spend most of my time while camping in bed instead of fishing!! It rolls up pretty big though. The straps work well to make a good bedroll. I bought som 30 inch duffels to use as a storage sack for extra protection.
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